{"id":1157,"date":"2017-03-12T22:36:42","date_gmt":"2017-03-12T21:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/basicincome-europe.org\/ubie\/?p=1157"},"modified":"2017-03-16T15:39:06","modified_gmt":"2017-03-16T14:39:06","slug":"a-eurodividend-for-all-europeans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubi-europe.net\/ubi\/a-eurodividend-for-all-europeans\/","title":{"rendered":"A Eurodividend for all Europeans"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Giovanni<\/p>\n

By\u00a0Fran\u00e7ois Denuit<\/em><\/p>\n

Europe is in deep trouble \u2013 economically, socially, and politically. We need new, bolder and stronger instruments to counter the forces of disintegration. A partial basic income paid to all Europeans \u2013 a Eurodividend \u2013 could become the policy instrument that safeguards the EU and especially the Eurozone from asymetric economic shocks and reconciles citizens with the idea of European integration.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, the risk of poverty and social exclusion levels in the EU and in particular the precarity of young people, child poverty and in-work poverty are extremely worrying whilst the prospects of the EU\u2019s 2020 poverty target (i.e. to lift 20 million people out of poverty by 2020) look rather dim. Moreover, unemployment levels remain very high and particularly affect young people whereas the technological and digital revolution is affecting employment in various aspects, through the replacement of a great amount of jobs, the reorganisation of the workplace and the increase of the gap between productivity gains and income earned by workers. Finally, in the Eurozone, the introduction of the euro has produced increasing economic divergence between deficit and surplus countries (in terms of GDP per capita, labour productivity or unemployment levels among others) as well as important social imbalances in terms of public investment in education, healthcare, or social security.<\/p>\n

Many citizens who feel let down by mainstream policies with such disastrous results turn towards populist, nationalist parties that promise relief at the cost of European solidarity. All this threatens the European project, the viability of the monetary union and, most importantly, it affects directly the life of millions of Europeans who struggle to live a decent life.<\/p>\n

For all these reasons, UBIE considers that a modest income floor in the form of a European partial basic income<\/strong> granted unconditionally to all EU citizens and legal long-term residents would provide a smart way to tackle the three social priorities mentioned:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. reduce poverty and income inequalities<\/strong> by guaranteeing basic income security,<\/li>\n
  2. provide a complementary replacement income<\/strong> to that of national welfare programmes for unemployed people, and<\/li>\n
  3. reduce excessive economic and social imbalances between Eurozone countries thanks to its automatic stabilizing effect<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Such a Eurodividend is a modest income floor averaging 200 euro per month (depending on the funding scheme and whether it is adjusted to the cost of living). It would be distributed to all adult residents of the EU member states<\/strong> on an individual basis<\/strong> and without means testing or work requirements<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    A Eurodividend is not meant to replace national minimum income schemes. Instead, it provides a cushion over which EU member states are able to pursue their own welfare arrangements to ensure a decent life for all their citizens. The introduction of a Eurodividend aims at the development of a fair, stable and efficient European social model<\/strong> as it embodies a European commitment to social citizenship with “a policy that is \u2018European\u2019 in scope and substance, transparent and simple to administer”.*<\/p>\n

    Indeed, the Eurodividend would provide a fair redistributive mechanism to ensure that all Europeans equally benefit from the wealth generated by European integration:<\/p>\n